John Lawrence and His Dark Materials

Wood engraving illustrator, John Lawrence, creates beautiful timeless pieces for all ages. His children's book consist of This Little Chick, Seahorse: The Shyest Fish in the Sea, Tiny's Big Adventure and Philip Pullman's Dark Materials collectors edition books.

John Lawrence uses tools and techniques that go back to the 18th century, yet his illustrations don't look out of place in our modern world. His distinctive wood engravings and drawings have kept him employed over the past 40 years. The process of his print/collage technique is also time consuming. Each different colour and textured backgrounds are separate prints that are collaged into the overall design. He uses a mixture of wood and vinyl to create contrasting textures and admitidely he brings the images together with the help of a computer.

Although Pullman created all his own illustrations and pictograms for his Dark Materials series, I can see why he chose Lawrence to do the collector's editions as Lawrence's 'modern ancient approach' is perfectly suited to the style of the book. Pullman's story flits between the modern world (as we know it) and a parallel neo-industrial revolution era.

"Nothing can match the effect of the essentially organic process of wood engraving. It's all about mark-making; the marks get their character from the material and the tools, and, when you are working on wood, you can feel the textures - there are infinitesimal differences between the marks you make." - John Lawrence